Editing Hengist and Horsa (section)

===Germanic twin brothers and divine Indo-European horse twins===
Several sources attest that the Germanic peoples venerated a [[Divine twins|divine pair of twin brothers]]. The earliest reference to this practice derives from [[Timaeus (historian)|Timaeus]] (c. 345 – c. 250 BC). Timaeus records that the Celts of the [[North Sea]] were especially devoted to [[Interpretatio graeca|what he describes as]] [[Castor and Pollux]]. In his work ''Germania'', [[Tacitus]] records the veneration of the [[Alcis (gods)|Alcis]], whom he identifies with Castor and Pollux. Germanic legends mention various brothers as founding figures. The 1st- or 2nd-century historian [[Cassius Dio]] cites the brothers [[Raos and Raptos]] as the leaders of the [[Hasdingi|Astings]]. According to [[Paul the Deacon]]'s 8th-century ''[[History of the Lombards]]'', the [[Lombards]] migrated southward from Scandinavia led by [[Ibur and Aio]], while [[Saxo Grammaticus]] records in his 12th-century ''[[Gesta Danorum|Deeds of the Danes]]'' that this migration was prompted by [[Aggi and Ebbi]]. In related Indo-European cultures, similar traditions are attested, such as the [[Dioscuri]]. Scholars have theorized that these divine twins in Indo-European cultures stem from divine twins in prehistoric Proto-Indo-European culture.<ref name=PROTO-INDO>Simek (2007:59–60) and Mallory (2005:135).</ref>

[[J. P. Mallory]] comments on the great importance of the horse in Indo-European religion, as exemplified "most obviously" by various mythical brothers appearing in Indo-European legend, including Hengist and Horsa:
<blockquote>
:Some would maintain that the ''premier'' animal of the Indo-European sacrifice and ritual was probably the horse. We have already seen how its embedment in Proto-Indo-European society lies not just in its lexical reconstruction but also in the proliferation of personal names which contain "horse" as an element among the various Indo-European peoples. Furthermore, we witness the importance of the horse in Indo-European rituals and mythology. One of the most obvious examples is the recurrent depiction of twins such as the Indic Asvins "horsemen," the Greek horsemen Castor and Pollux, the legendary Anglo-Saxon settlers Horsa and Hengist [...] or the Irish twins of [[Macha]], born after she had completed a horse race. All of these attest the existence of Indo-European divine twins associated with or represented by horses.<ref name=MALLORY135/></blockquote>